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Thursday, September 8, 2011

It is that time, the day we knew was coming, the date we did not need tomark on our calendars.

What happened on that terrible Tuesday, Sept. 11, 2001, was a tragedy thatprofoundly affected us all. We stood motionless as we witnessed theunthinkable become reality. We gasped as we saw twin towers crumble, and wecried as we watched grown men weep. And then we gathered together, ascommunities and as a nation, to seek a collective consolation from thosearound us - our families, our friends, our colleagues.

Theodore Roosevelt wrote that "Death is always, and under all circumstances,a tragedy, for if it is not, then it means that life itself has become one."The great calamity that struck our nation was much more than death. It was avicious act that struck at the heart of America and touched the souls ofeach of her citizens.

The following Friday night, my younger daughter and I lit candles and stoodon the sidewalk in front of our safe, suburban house. We joined a handful ofneighbors and became links in a remarkable chain of candle bearers thatstretched from sea to somber sea.

I first learned of the attacks while talking on the telephone with my wife,who was in Reno on business. Suddenly, she gasped: "Oh, my god. A buildingis on fire in New York."

She soon became one of the thousands of people stranded in hotels when thegovernment grounded all flights. Wednesday morning found her driving to SaltLake City in a rented car across Nevada's high-desert highway. She did notlook forward to what she knew would be an ordeal at the airport Saturdaymorning. She arrived five hours before her scheduled departure.

It took 15 minutes for security to hand-search her checked luggage. Otherpersonnel rummaged through her carry-on looking for knives, corkscrews, andletter openers. As she walked to her gate, she passed a gift shop sellingsouvenir knives, corkscrews, and letter openers. The nation's airports havea few kinks to work out if they're going to get this security thing tosucceed, she said.

Ten years later, sadly, we still have not worked out this security thing.And much of the blame rests on those of us who want total security and totalconvenience, also known as freedom. One cannot be secure withoutinconvenience, without giving up some freedoms. Making sure all the doorsand windows are locked at night is both confining and inconvenient, but italso is prudent. Ten years later, we still grapple to determine whatfreedoms you and I are willing to trade for security.

It is curious now to look back a decade and see how we set aside the pettyparts of politics, how we gave proper perspective to the shallow world ofcelebrities, how we embraced the concept of respect even if for anall-too-short time. The sad irony here is that on the eve of our nationalremembrance comes word of a video game that promotes the murder of tea partyzombies and conservative journalists. Res ipsa loquitur.

It was also interesting to note that we set aside ravaging religious debateswhile the nation sought solace and guidance. Children and their teachersprayed in school. The National Cathedral was the site of our national day ofmourning. President Bush invoked the name of God at every appearance. Until9/11, we had wrapped God in the flag, put them both in a drawer, and allowedcertain factions to lock them up and throw away the key. And then came thosetoo-few days following that terrible Tuesday when we broke the lock,displayed the flag, and prayed to God for forgiveness and strength.

Some of us searched the old books for scriptures that would provide us lightand hope as we stumbled through darkness and fear. "He will swallow up deathin victory; and the Lord God will wipe away tears from off all faces," theprophet Isaiah assured us from across the millennia.

Like little children, we asked why. Then our children turn to us and askedthe same question. Why? Ten years later, we still have no answer.

Back then, as I searched for the answer, I remembered an old gospel songthat helped me look beyond the question:

When death has found and taken our loved ones,Leaving our home so lonely and drear,Then do we wonder why others prosper,Living so wicked year after year.Farther along we'll know more about it.Farther along we'll understand why.Cheer up, my brother, live in the sunshine.We'll understand it all by and by.

John David Powell writes his Lone Star Award-winning columns from ShadeyHillRanch in Texas.

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